ListenSurveying the Industry with Sean Fabor, PE and Kent Groh, PLS of Geoholics
Enhanced Scanning owner Forrest Sim interviews Sean Fabor and Kent Groh of Geoholics, a podcast focused on the surveying, geomatics, and geospatial industries.
Executive Summary
- The Blueprint of Podcast Longevity: Celebrating their fifth year since recording on crude analog equipment in a Tempe bar, Kent and Sean attribute their niche show’s massive success to intense consistency and a strict operational mantra: Add value, make friends. Moving through 2026, the duo is actively expanding their “geospatial umbrella” outward to capture a broader AEC audience, including architects and construction professionals, utilizing platforms like YouTube live streams and TikTok.
- The Professional Backgrounds: Beyond the microphones, Kent Groh is a professional land surveyor with 33 years of experience, serving as a market leader for a mid-sized AEC firm in the Southwest. Sean Faber is a professional civil engineer operating as the principal of a mid-sized engineering, survey, and geotechnical firm, managing material testing and geotech pipelines.
- The Global Workforce Crisis: Both hosts identify the struggle to attract the next generation into surveying as a massive global problem spanning every major market. The core barrier is an awareness issue—youth simply do not know it exists as a high-paying career path. Organizations like Get Kids Into Survey (founded by Elaine Ball and championed on the West Coast by Trent Keenan) are combating this by building middle school and high school guidance counselor networks to pitch the trade—highlighting high-paying roles like CAD technicians and party chiefs that don’t require 4-year degrees.
- The Messy State of Licensing Variance: Getting a surveyor license varies wildly from state to state, ranging from a strict 4-year degree mandate to states like Arizona where no post-secondary education is required. Kent expresses professional frustration over this lack of structural unification, noting that despite his 30+ years of experience and cross-licensure in multiple states, he cannot gain reciprocity in states requiring a specific 4-year geomatics degree because his foundational degree is in architecture.
- The Naughty Words of Mapping (CYA Disclaimers): Echoing previous interviews, Forrest and Sean dissect the strict boundaries governing subsurface deliverables. While surveyors traditionally claim sole ownership over measuring the earth, the rise of GIS and reality capture has decentralized data processing. Sean notes that non-surveyors safely navigate state boards by inserting rigid “weasel language” disclaimers detailing exactly what tools were used and the implied tolerances, rather than defining absolute certified physical property boundaries.
- The Democratization of Measurement: The rise of high-powered, affordable technology has entirely transformed the land survey landscape. Kent points out the life-altering reality that modern smartphones now contain built-in GPS receivers and LiDAR scanners. While progressive firms are leaning into this cutting edge, the industry remains deeply divided by stubborn, older operators who aggressively resist digital convergence.
About Enhanced Scanning
Enhanced Scanning provides subsurface locating services to help construction, engineering, and scientific professionals obtain the information they need to proceed safely with their projects. The company is dedicated to promoting safer locating practices by combining sophisticated technology with well-trained technicians. Enhanced Scanning owner Forrest Sim is also active as an industry educator and regularly speaks at events across the country about utility locating, concrete scanning, and other aspects of subsurface investigation.
Enhanced Scanning uses several types of non-destructive locating equipment to investigate conditions without causing unnecessary disruption to the site. Its technology includes ground penetrating radar (GPR), electromagnetic (EM) and electromagnetic induction (EMI) locators, magnetometers, push cameras, and pulse wave generators. The use of multiple locating methods allows technicians to gather a more comprehensive set of information and select the technology that is most appropriate for the conditions encountered on a particular project.
The company can use these technologies to locate underground utility infrastructure, identify post-tensioned cables and other features within concrete, and detect changes in soil structure. Understanding these conditions before work begins can help customers avoid striking hidden utilities or encountering other unexpected hazards. More importantly, it gives contractors, engineers, and other professionals the information they need to plan their work responsibly, protect workers and existing infrastructure, and reduce the possibility of costly project disruptions.
